Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling


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Reviewed by Derek Cheng


Harry Potter is back, with a thrilling new sequel (yes, I know it's not new anymore). The quirkiness of the previous book is retained, and the mysterious story about Harry and Voldemort's battle continues. This book lets readers know what happens after the first book, and because of the terrific start that the first book provides, readers want even more to read this book. In my opinion, this is one of the best books in the Harry Potter series. A short summary will tell you why.

In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry is in his second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. After a chaotic first year at Hogwarts, Harry finds out another secret of Hogwarts: Hogwarts has a "Chamber of Secrets" that was built by Salazar Slytherin to kill "Mudbloods" (Muggle-born witches and wizards). It was said that the Chamber of Secrets would open only when the Heir of Slytherin commanded it to. When Harry discovered this, he immediately started to suspect Draco Malfoy (Harry's archenemy). However, with the help of Polyjuice Potion made by Hermione Granger, he soon discovers that his suspicions about Malfoy were false. Later on, Harry discovered a diary that appeared to be Ginny Weasley's, but Harry revealed that the diary actually belonged to Tom Marvolo Riddle (AKA Lord Voldemort), and it was made into a Horcrux. The diary started controlling Ginny, and she released the Slytherin monster onto several muggle-borns. Eventually, Harry found his way into the Chamber of Secrets, and used Slytherin's monster against Riddle, destroying the Horcrux.

I just love this book because it introduces some new characters, and it is much more thrilling. Also, to solve the problem in the story, the characters do very strange and interesting things, such as making polyjuice potion and becoming other people. Even the beginning of the story is very funny, because Fred and George Weasley go to 4 Privet Drive to rescue Harry from the Dursleys. The rest of the story is also very fun to read, because it reveals many new things about different characters. Just like Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, this book is almost impossible to put down. I suspect that this book has also been bewitched...